It takes a special kind of mind to look at an M.C. Escher drawing and see a blueprint. And yet, looking at this working 3D model of Escher's Waterfall, one gets the impression that YouTube's mcwolles may have done just that! One thing's clear: like Escher's famous lithograph, the video employs some manner of trickery. But what kind? Good, old-fashioned forced perspective? CGI? Do the shadows provide a clue? Let's hear it in the comments.
Inspired by Cornell's new, innovative robotic gripper (a sort of shape-shifting balloon hand), Steve Norris of Norris Labs decided to go DIY and make his own home-brewed replica at a lower cost.
Choosing the right kind of shoes is one of the most critical decisions to improve running performance. The right kind of shoe provides balance and stability, and is responsive to your specific running style.
If you've got $1.6 million in spare change, imagine this: you could be sleeping on a bonafide hovercraft. Designed by Dutchman Janjaap Ruijssenaars, the Floating Bed is the world's most expensive bed, employing "never weakening permanent magnetism" to hover above the ground.
COOLHAUS! Just in time for summer, if you are in the LA Area this great wagon o goodness is here for you! These architecturally inspired ice cream sandwiches only employ the best (organic whenever they can) products for their handmade artisanal ice cream flavors like mexican chocolate, marscapone balsamic fig and brown butter with candied bacon. These bovine derived beauties are folded between two homemade cookies that are bound to make your mouth smile. They are a moving operation so make su...
Aspiring Scottish fashion designer James Faulkner brings all new meaning to the term upcycling. Faulkner uses wings, feathers and furs of actual roadkill for his headgear line. He line employs a variety of taxidermied vermin, including foxes, magpies, rabbits, wood pigeons, pheasants, mallards, crows and peacocks.
"Skimboarding in a Storm" displays some ultra cool camerawork, employing the relatively cheap and user friendly GoPro camera (also used in the clever Kitchen Timer Panning Time Lapse Hack).
Need some advice on fly fishing? Fly fishing is a distinct and ancient angling method of fishing, most notably as a method of catching trout or salmon. Fly fishing is also well employed today for a large variety of species other than trout and salmon, including pike, bass, panfish, grayling, carp, redfish, snook, tarpon, bonefish, and striped bass.
Need some advice on fly fishing? Fly fishing is a distinct and ancient angling method of fishing, most notably as a method of catching trout or salmon. Fly fishing is also well employed today for a large variety of species other than trout and salmon, including pike, bass, panfish, grayling, carp, redfish, snook, tarpon, bonefish, and striped bass.
A senior Syrian government spokesman just confirmed his nation did indeed possess chemical weapons, and might employ them against a "foreign aggressor."
Remember the magical LED graffiti video "paint"? Here's another cool LED graffiti design by Aissa Logerot.
A brand new Japanese prototype offers users the ability to manipulate real 3D forms, employing a touch interface with a squeezy, rubbery feel.
35-year-old artist from Shandong, China, Liu Bolin, has created a series of photographs entitled "Camouflage". No trick photography employed, no photoshop alterations. Every effect was created by anal, fastidious painting and the exact alignment of subject to background.
The fire piston is a primitive device that many claim Rudolph Diesel used as a model for his namesake engine design. Both employ the use of compression ignition. The piston compresses the air to over 800 degrees Fahrenheit. This results in the ignition of the tinder in the tip of the bolt.
A 15 year old named Brandon reveals one of the great magic tricks of all time for Viewdo. If you try this on a friend who does not know this trick...you will be a GOD. The kid is good. He "sells" it too.
Time to prepare for that upcoming insufferable summer heat. For real. This tutorial actually works.
If you're a musician in need of some lessons, there's no better way to learn than with Music Radar's so-called "Tuition" instructions. Although the title tuition is misleading, this video class is anything but costly, because it's free, right here. Whether you're looking for help with your voice, bass, electric guitar, drums, guitar effects, piano, Logic Pro or production techniques, Music Radar is here to show you the way.
Igloos and snow caves are two common types of snow shelters that provide an excellent blockade from harsh elements but are typically cramped. A digloo is the combination of the two that creates a large, comfortable refuge. Find out how to build one. Build an igloo by digging out snow shelters.
If you are a hunter, you will eventually need to know how to flesh a raccoon. These cute and fluffy animals aren't typically the ones you would imagine skinning, but if they've gotten into your garbage cans one too many times, who knows? Follow along with this video and learn how to get the skin clean off these backyard dwellers. Flesh a raccoon.
This recipe, by renowned chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, was originally developed for a restaurant kitchen, which typically includes a convection oven. To prepare this at home, bake the meringues overnight, or until dried, on the bottom rack of a gas oven with only the pilot light on. Prepare passion fruit pavlova.
Apply Image is a feature that's not new in Photoshop, yet many users are unfamiliar with it. It’s typically used for quick compositing, but it also provides the capability to blend a color channel into an image. In this video tutorial you will learn to use Photoshop's Apply Image dialog box and set of tools for various effects. Use Photoshop's Apply Image dialog box.
This Animal Welfare Foundation two-part video tutorial is from expert veterinary staff demonstrating the correct procedures for handling small mammals for clinical examination and medication. Its aim is to show that the primary consideration should be for the the welfare of the animal. This video guide will show you practical animal handling for a rat.
What's the easiest way to adjoin two fishing lines? The blood knot. And no, you're not going to cut yourself, that's not why it's called the "blood" knot. It's also referred to as the Barrel knot, and is usually used for monofilament nylon lines. Wade Bourne of MyOutdoorTV will show you how to tie the blood knot.
Well, the site does say video games and 'technology'. Looking for information on the Sprint Evo HTC 4G being released this Friday, I found this overview of the phone and something I didn't expect: humor.
This lesson covers some of the most popular punk drum beats. Many of the patterns are relatively simple, but can still be challenging. This is due to the fact that they are typically played at fast tempos when performed in punk rock music. Play punk drum beats.
Loyalty by Edward Taylor This is the hardest part:
In this article, I'll show you how to make an awesome "Death Ray" using the large magnifying lens from an old projection TV. The lens is called a Fresnel lens; a device that employs several ridges to focus light, rather than a complete curve.
If you haven't participated in this week's Math Craft project on the platonic solids, maybe this will inspire you to do so.
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been widely used by the military for surveillance and reconnaissance missions—even armed combat. But there are other beneficial applications of an unmanned aircraft, such as search and rescue operations, scientific exploration, locating mineral deposits, transporting goods and even filming bikini models. But drone development can be pretty pricey, unless you just happen to have a 3D printer...
Wheels of Steel is a virtual browser-based turntable emulator created by Scott Schiller, a Canadian developer who works on Flickr at Yahoo. This project will appeal to those who A) dig turntablism and B) are knowledgeable in web development. I know nothing of the latter, but from what I can tell, Wheels of Steel appears to be significant because unlike its predecessors, it employs CSS3 instead of flash. Since I'm not familiar with the topic, here's Scott on the history and technical details o...
German photographer Peter Langenhahn's process is incredibly laborious; similar to photographer Lori Nix, he can spend up to three months on a single photograph. But while Nix spends the time constructing elaborate sets, Langenhahn is anchored to the computer, editing.
Nope, it’s not the McDonalds menu, but close enough. Jim Blackhurst has mapped 11 million deaths onto a 3-dimensional point cloud for video game Just Cause 2. The result is an amazing virtual heat map of a world where every white dot represents a death on impact: The millions of deaths formulate a detailed outline of major structures and roads in the game, visually mapping "extractions" at every square inch. In most traditional games, this would not be possible—players more often than not sta...
Can you really make an explosive from salt, sugar and weed killer? Does glycerol and water actually recover text from burnt paper? Is it possible to develop film with a first aid kit and some orange juice? MacGyver says yes.
Area 51 is the most secretive military base in the United States, a base that U.S. government officials to this day still barely acknowledge because of its top secret development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems. But a slew of Cold War-era documents have finally been declassified, and National Geographic has discovered a rather low-tech method the military used to hide its high-tech prototypes.
If you've yet to witness B.A.S.E. jumping, it's an activity for adrenaline junkies first publicized by filmmaker Carl Boenish in '78. The freefall sport employs ram-air parachutes, and is most commonly executed in locations such as the highly elevated El Capitan rock formation of Yosemite National Park (El Capitan is also technically the birthplace of the sport).
It's more addictive than Angry Birds, perhaps as relaxing as transcendental meditation, and satisfyingly simpler than GarageBand. It's Otomata, a newly programmed generative sequencer designed by Batuhan Bozkurt, a Turkish sound artist, computer programmer, and performer. But really, it's best described as an audio/visual music toy that anybody can play online—with beautiful results.
The Android Megaminxer is mind-bogglingly elaborate, impressively combining multiple geeky mediums to solve an incredibly complex puzzle. ARM, the genius behind the stunt, uses LEGOs (a Mindstorms NXT kit to be exact) to build a robot responsible for the mechanics; they then employ an Android app as the brain, which solves a Rubik's Cube—oh wait, not a simple Rubik's (that would be too easy), but a Megaminx, which is a dodecahedron with 12 faces, each face containing 5 edges. Like the classic...
The exile is officially over. Let the good times roll. Unequal Technologies has just signed Michael Vick as its corporate spokesman. They have applied for 50 patents that largely employ the Dupont-created Kevlar for "shock suppression". Formally speaking, this is his first product endorsement deal since his arrest in 2007.
Gathering Vocabulary the right way
Ever been Privacy Zuckered? Roach Moteled? Friend Spammed? If you've been on the net long, odds are you have — and worse! Fortunately, there's a new resource for keeping track of the web's worst design practices; it's called "Dark Patterns" and it aims to "name and shame" sites that employ "user interfaces that have been designed to trick users into doing things they wouldn't otherwise have done."
